Alexander Pope: The Evolution of a Poet

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Routledge, Nov 1, 2017 - Literary Criticism - 330 pages
This title was first published in 2002: Making use of the growing body of research in recent years on the nature of creativity, Netta Goldsmith here presents a new view of the famous poet whose personality has long frustrated scholars as elusive. Goldsmith tells the story of Pope's life so as to show the factors-personal and public, psychological and social-which shaped his character and enabled him to secure widespread recognition as a major poet. Discussions of significant works are integrated into the narrative covering main events and key relationships, as well as illustrating points made throughout about Pope's approach to his art. Among other things this book shows how vulnerable Pope felt as a Papist in a time of endemic Jacobite activity, and how his fear of possible prosecution for sedition determined much of his conduct and the way he shaped his career. Alexander Pope: The evolution of a poet not only provides a fresh perspective on Pope, but also on the very nature of literary creativity.

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Contents

The Wrong Place at the Wrong Time
Loss
Conspiracies
Failure all Round
Pope Recreates Himself
The Return
Into the Arena
The Master of the Song?

The Apprentice
How Pope Courted the Judges
Launching a Career
A Poets Manifesto
Making Use of evry Friend and evry Foe
On Being Original
Support Groups
Fighting the Opposition
Strategies
Homers Pension
A Poet and
The Art of Love
A New Battlefield
The Credentials of a Moralist
Pope and the Women
What the Letters Tell
A Closet Editor
Popes Bulldog
Putting Things in Order
The Death of a Public Figure
Pope Past and Present
Index
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